Charities love me. There are two main reasons for this: 1) I am generous by nature; and 2) unlike 90% of people in my generation, I still have a home phone number and even frequently answer it during the day. (The odd combination of my techy profession/interests with my aversion to most things techy being the subject of another post for another day.) So for these reasons and some others, my husband (also generous and a guilt-by-association home phone answerer) and I are pretty charitable folks.
But lately I've noticed two trends that are sort of crushing my charitable spirit, or at least making me tired.
The first one is the mysterious "annual fund drive" that happens at LEAST twice a year. Much like the Victoria's Secret "semi-annual sale," which as far as I can tell is an omnipresent vat of padded E-cup bras and ill-fitting underpants in strange patterns that you're welcome to fish through at any time, the purported frequency of this event does not reflect reality. In fact, I recently had one charity contact me less than a month after a donation to thank me for my gift "last year" and see if I'd be willing to contribute again this year. I am definitely stupid, but not that stupid. And hey, I get it: After an organization figures out you're willing to give, you're just going to get more and more requests because you're where their money comes from. But I'm not a big fan of lying, so please stop doing this because lying indeed is what it is.
The second one that's wearing me out is the "send five letters to your neighbors three months from now" request. Of course I am willing to do this, but is it really the most efficient way to raise funds? Couldn't I just send you a donation equivalent to the cost of five stamps? (Whatever a stamp costs now; I've honestly lost track. Fifty cents? I know they were 22 cents throughout most of my childhood. Kids today probably have no idea what stamps are.) Because by the time you call me, call me three more times to thank me and see if I have "any questions" about the mailing, ship me a giant packet of stuff, and follow up eleventy nine times to see if I have collected any money yet, you probably could have mailed those letters (and more) yourself. Honestly, I'd love to hear from someone who works in fundraising who can explain this technique to me, because I'm not seeing the value. And yes, I am mailing letters for three different groups again this year. And no, I don't expect to get a good response from my neighbors this time, either. And yes, I realize it is me and little old ladies who do this and maybe I should disconnect our home phone and why don't I just get an iPhone already.
Just call me Ethel. And please give generously to your favorite causes this holiday season! Because even if it is sometimes annoying, that is what this season is all about.
2 comments:
The annual fund drive on NPR drives me nuts. I can see the point from the point of view of the organization, as it allows them to put up a goal and then hit that goal, but I'm not sure why this needs to be public. Does making it public raise the stakes on the members of the organization and the people who donate? I can't answer this definitively.
The send five letters idea, however, comes squarely out of direct mail and political science developments over the last decade or so:
1. Stuff coming from you to friends is about 10% more likely to solicit a donation than stuff coming from the charity via direct bulk mail. This seems like a pittance, but in the world of direct mail selling and fundraising (not to mention voter registration and turnout via Get Out The Vote operations) getting 10% of people do do ANY DAMN THING is pretty impressive.
2. By volunteering to assist in soliciting for donations, you're more invested in the donation process and more likely to continue to give similar amounts year after year, therefore the charity is able to increase it's probable donor list and target similar people from your background, purchase history (which they buy from information aggregation companies), income, and consumption spending.
There's a great book on how political campaigns are developing these types of algorithms called The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg.
Damn you and your sensible explanation of things, Eric.
No, seriously: That makes sense. Maybe someone else in the neighborhood could volunteer sometime, though. I guess I'm just cursed to be part of the 10% who are likely to actually do something when asked.
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